The photo
by lozza1989
Summary: A Stacey/Lily branning one shot. A six year old Lily comes across a Photo of bradley and wants to know who he is so Stacey tells her. Complete.


The Photo

Six year old Lily branning sat on the living room sofa, looking through some old photos of people her mother, Stacey used to know. She had seen pictures of her Nana Jean whom she hadn't seen since she was a baby and other members of the Slater family. She was halfway looking through the photos when she came across a picture of someone who she was unfamiliar with. It was a picture of a Young man who looked to be about in his early twenties with red hair. Getting curious, Lily with the photo still in her small hand walked into the kitchen where Stacey was making the dinner.

"Hello you, dinner's not ready for another twenty minutes yet" Stacey said as Lily came walking into the kitchen.

"Mummy, who is this?" the little girl asked as she showed Stacey the photo which caused her to gasp and then take a deep sigh.

"Where did you find that?" she asked her daughter gently, taking the photo from her daughter and looking at it.

"I found it in the photos I was looking at, who is he?" Lily asked.

"He's called Bradley" Stacey replied. Lily gave her mother a confused look.

"How did you know him mummy?" she asked.

"He was an old friend of mine, we were really close once" Stacey explained as she sat her daughter down on one of the kitchen chairs.

"How close where you mummy?" the little girl asked.

"Very closed" Stacey replied "we were married once but we had a big falling out a few months after we got married."

"What happened?" Lily asked.

"Well, it happened a few years before you were born, mummy did something really bad and it made Bradley very sad so he and mummy had a big falling out and didn't want to be married anymore." The little girl nodded as she took it all in.

"Did you love him mummy?" she asked. Stacey nodded as she felt her eyes stinging with tears.

"Oh I did" she replied "I loved him very much."

"Did you ever get married again?" Lily asked. Stacey nodded as she quickly wiped a few tears from her eyes.

"Well, we didn't get married again straight away, we made up after our big falling out but we just stayed good friends for a while" Stacey explained.

"Like me and Abigail from school?" Lily asked.

"Yeah" Stacey replied with a chuckle "but mummy realized that she still loved Bradley and he also realized the same thing so we got married again."

"How come he doesn't live with us then?" Lily asked.

"Well, the day we got married, he "she stopped for a minute to wipe a few more tears from her eyes "he went to heaven."

"You mean he died" Lily whispered softly. Stacey nodded as she felt more tears stinging her eyes.

"Yes, he died" she replied. The six year old girl nodded slowly as she took it all in.

"What happened to him mummy?" She asked.

"Well, the Christmas before he died, a man got hurt really bad and the police thought that Bradley had hurt the man so they came to take him away and Bradley got scared so he tried to get away by climbing on a roof but he fell and hurt himself and he couldn't get better on his own so the angels took him up to heaven so they could make him better" Stacey explained as a few tears streamed down her face. Lily leaned forward and wiped the from her face.

"Don't be sad mummy" the little girl said "the angels are looking after him now." Stacey smiled and hugged her daughter so tightly that she didn't feel like letting her go.

"Mummy loves you so much darling" she sobbed "and nothing is going to ever change that." She had hugged her daughter for a full five minutes before letting her go again.

"Do you think Bradley would have loved me if he was still alive?" Lily asked.

"Oh he would have loved you as if you was his own" Stacey replied "he would be sitting in this kitchen right now spending some quality time with you whilst mummy makes the three of us dinner."

"He sounds like a real nice person mummy, I really wished I'd got to meet him" Lily said.

"So do I darling" Stacey sighed as she held her little girl in for another hug "so do I." After a while, Stacey helped Lily make a photo frame and then she placed the photo of Bradley in it.

" There, it will look nice in this photo " Stacey said. When it was Lily's bedtime, the little girl asked if she could have the photo on her bedside table.

"Sure darling?" Stacey said. Lily held the photo as Stacey carried her upstairs into her room. She placed the photo on her daughter's bedside table and then tucked the child into bed.

"Goodnight sweetheart" Stacey said as she kissed Lily on her forehead.

"Goodnight mummy" Lily said with a yawn. Stacey then switched on her nightlight and left the room. After Stacey had left, Lily turned to the picture.

"Goodnight Bradley" she whispered as she leaned over and kissed the photo "I wish I'd got to meet you." The child then layed her head down on her pillow and with one last glance at the smiling face of Bradley, Lily closed her eyes and fell asleep.


End file.
